Today, the reputation of brands is being built online, where thousands of people discuss everyday. In Singapore alone, people spend an average of two hours and a half every single day on social media. Their comments, pictures, ratings and posts help to understand brand perceptions in a powerful way. Data is publicly available, and with the help of a social media listening tool and some analysis, it's possible to assess a brand's reputation in a few days or hours. In this first case study, we wanted to check the online reputation of Singapore's top telco operators: Singtel, Starhub, M1 and My Republic. As consumer brands whose services are used daily by some 4m people, they are exposed to online conversations. What is the best operator? How fast is a network breakdown repaired? Is the customer service efficient? reliable? polite? Who's the fastest when it comes to fiber at home? To all these questions we can find an answer by diving into the conversation happening daily in forums, blogs, comments, facebook, twitter, youtube, instagram, media and more... The result is this first case study we ran from Jan 16th to Feb 16th, 2015, in English, in Singapore. In the first part of the document, you'll see how the battle of the telcos is faring. In the second part, we spend more time to analyse the reputation of one of them (Starhub). We'll do more of these case studies to analyze different industries in Singapore and South-East Asia as we go. For feedback and inquiries, please contact us at hello@agencetesla.com or visit us at agencetesla.asia

1. Battle of the Telcos
How Singtel, Starhub, M1 and MyRepublic
fare online & on social media in Singapore
March 2015

2. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
LISTENING TO ONLINE CHATTER
• WHICH BRAND has the biggest share of
voice overall, and among influencers?
• WHERE CUSTOMERS TALK of telcos, and
where are the most negative overall?
• WHAT BRAND has the best and worst
brand perception among Singapore telcos?
• WHO are the top Influencers discussing
telcos in Singapore?
• When it comes to Community Management,
WHICH BRAND DOES IT BETTER, faster,
or bigger?

3. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
METHODOLOGY
Two Radars:
• One to check mentions of each brand
• One to check mentions of Starhub & specific
keywords related to Pricing, Customer Care,
Product/Service, Comparison (with other
brands)…
One Territory:
• Singapore
• In English only
• Jan 18th to Feb 18th
• All platforms: Websites, Facebook, Twitter,
Youtube, Instagram, Blogs, Media, Forums
Time-frame: Jan 16th to Feb 16th, 2015

4. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
WHO’S TALKING OF THE TELCOS?
• Exactly 3,535 mentions for the telcos in Singapore in just one month
• Like in so many other industries, the good old forums are where most discussion happen, by FAR

5. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
WHO’S TALKING OF THE TELCOS?
How are these 3,535 mentions split
between brands?
• Half for Singtel (1,772)
• A small third for Starhub (1,029)
• A small quarter for M1 (847)
• A small nothing for MyRepublic (281)
Mentions are not exclusive one from another, as
we’re going to see in a minute: internet and
social media users love to compare everything!

6. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT US?
Conversations are markets, with recurring and seasonal topics.
For the month of study, top topics include:
• Singtel new logo
• Starhub CNY Promotions & Deals
• M1 $200,000 support to help school kids of low-income families
• And the usual comparison of performance vs price vs engagement vs customer care!

7. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
FOCUS ON TOP 300 MENTIONS
On KiasuParents.com, a long discussion on Starhub
plans for kids and the possible ways to compensate
for unused data or voice/SMS. No telco answers.
1
1 2
3 4
Mostly on Twitter and Media, the M1 $200k initiative
to support school kids from low-income family. A
successful PR campaign.
2
Negative mentions are almost always about poor
customer service: long hotlines, poor answers,
overall low level of care from telcos to customers
(lack of flexibility).
3
Positive mentions are often PR and Media related,
mentioning financial results, or CSR-related
activites. They don’t involve customers.
4

8. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
FOCUS ON NEGATIVE MENTIONS

9. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
SO WHAT DO TELCOS DO??
They get fans & followers (Come on M1 can you really not be on Twitter as a telco??)…

10. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
SO WHAT DO TELCOS DO??
… But they don’t really care about what you say* anyway! Congrats M1 for engaging a bit more your
community!
(*Engagement rate = Number of interactions from fans/followers divided by total number of fans/followers. Decent
engagement rate on social media are around 2%. Over 2% is usually promoted through Ads. Below 2%, well… you don’t
really give a reason for fans/followers to engage)

11. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
BATTLE OF TOP 2 BRANDS

12. BATTLE OF
SOCIAL
MEDIA
KEY TAKEWAYS – INDUSTRY LEVEL
1
TURN NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES
- In a conversational world, people care more about
how you talk than about how you deliver
- Do answer ALL negatives, you’d be surprised how
fast it can turn into POSITIVES
2
LEARN FROM THE CROWD
- 3,535 mentions of telcos in 30 days is a lot: let us
help you refine the raw data into gold insights
- From Pricing to Product/Service ideas with strong
potential of segmentation, listening triggers a better
way of engaging customers

13. Focus on Starhub
What internet & social media users say about
Starhub in Singapore?
March 2015

14. • 239 top mentions analyzed between Jan 18th and February 18th, 2015
• More representativity granted to Twitter where the conversation is higher in volume
WHO IS TALKING OF STARHUB?
BRAND
FOCUS

15. How are these 239 mentions split between
topics?
• A huge majority in the conversation COMPARES
Starhub to other telcos
• CUSTOMER CARE comes 2nd with 23.4% of top
mentions… and they don’t say anything good…
• Products, Services and Prices come 3rd, without
being a discussion in itself (announcements,
promotions).
Let’s see some details about the two first topics.
WHO’S TALKING STARHUB?
BRAND
FOCUS

16. In the absence of strong key differentiator, triggers for a telco change include:
• Perceived price opportunity (promotions, seasonal plans & offers)
• Perceived service or care (customer care in particular)
• Perceived performance (speed, availability, breakdowns)
WHAT IS STARHUB’S WORTH VS INDUSTRY?
BRAND
FOCUS

17. Nothing scary between Jan 18th and Feb 18th for Starhub.
Listening on the long-run also allows to see strong variations in opinion & conversations. Alerts can be setup in case too
much of the conversation changes too fast (example “breakdown” or “down” or “broken” jumps from 5% to 25% of the
volume of conversations about “Starhub”)
TOP KEYWORDS ASSOCIATED W/ STARHUB
BRAND
FOCUS

18. Starhub in the top 100 of Most Sustainable
Companies, an information the Media and a few
Twitter accounts did show. Side-conversation on
Digital TV on HardwareZone.com
1
Facebook message from Daniel Tan Boon Huat
looking for resellers of Singtel & Starhub
prepaid top-up services.
2
A lot of negative mentions are on the quality of
service (breakdowns, mistakes in invoicing)
and poor customer care (a 15min and a 26min
hotline call are shared on Twitter).
3
Positive mentions are often PR/Media (3-year
sponsorship for School Green Awards) OR
switchers from Singtel or M1 to Starhub
4
1
3 4
STARHUB’S TOP 300 MENTIONS
BRAND
FOCUS
2

19. NEGATIVE MENTIONS ABOUT STARHUB
BRAND
FOCUS

20. BREAKDOWN OF SENTIMENT FOR STARHUB
12%
Price Billing
Product/
Service
Customer
Care
Comparis
on
News/PR
+
-
4%
BRAND
FOCUS
1.9%
24.1%
26.8%
37.5%
2.1%
29.2%
44.8%
0%
24.2%
12.1%
This table reads as follows: 12% of internet users who talked about the Price of
Starhub products & services did so in a negative fashion (criticizing the brand or
talking about it in a lesser way than competition)

21. A more balanced content strategy on FB and TW although clear lack of
rich media content (video in particular)
Engagement level is pretty nonexistent on Twitter, and decent on Facebook
STARHUB & ITS SOCIAL MEDIA ASSETS
BRAND
FOCUS

22. These are the 5 most influential Twitter accounts who mentioned (positively in green,
neutrally in grey, or negatively in red) Starhub between Jan 18th and Feb 18th, 2015.
TOP INFLUENCERS MENTIONING STARHUB
BRAND
FOCUS

23. KEY TAKEWAYS – STARHUB LEVEL
1
WATCH FOR SWITCHERS
- When people hesitate and compare offers, don’t let
them without information or commercial contact
- One win for you = one loss for competition!
2
TRANSFER CRM FROM VOICE TO TWITTER
- Phone calls to the customer service are lengthy, even
if they solve the issue, it’s too long
- Switch the customer service on Twitter, where it’s
faster and more convenient for users
BRAND
FOCUS

24. Thanks!
Agence Tesla, a social media agency in Singapore and Paris
martin.pasquier@agencetesla.com
Follow us on Twitter @agencetesla or www.agencetesla.asia
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